'There Is Nobody Like Her': Jane Fonda & Lily Tomlin Have One Of The Best Friendships In Hollywood

When it comes to celebrity friendships, you'll be hard pressed to find a more lovable and entertaining duo than Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. Some friendships fizzle over time, as the two people involved go in different directions and grow apart, but that hasn't been the case with Fonda and Tomlin. Since they first met in the late 1970s, they've been as thick as thieves, as the saying goes, making them absolute friendship goals. "We love each other," Fonda told People in May 2024 about her friendship with Tomlin. "I just feel lucky."

It should come as no surprise that having friends is an important part of the human experience and if those friends happen to be lifelong ones, even better. According to a 2025 study published in Brain, Behavior & Immunity — Health, this "higher cumulative social advantage," as the researchers call it, of having lifelong friendships lowers our biological age and even reduces chronic issues like inflammation. "It's not just about having friends today; it's about how your social connections have grown and deepened throughout your life," psychology professor and study author Anthony Ong told Science Daily. "That accumulation shapes your health trajectory in measurable ways."

While it may be harder to stay connected with close friends as you age, Fonda and Tomlin have made it work. It's not just because they have so much in common, but there's chemistry between them that can't be denied, and they genuinely respect each other. As Fonda gushed about Tomlin on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in 2023, "There's nobody like her." 

When Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin first met, they were already fans of each other. Fonda had made a name for herself as a political activist, speaking out against the Vietnam War, as well as an actor, having won her first Academy Award for her performance in 1971's "Klute." Tomlin, on the other hand, was an established comedian with a reoccurring role on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" from 1969 to 1973, before being cast in 1975's "Nashville," for which she was nominated for an Academy Award.

Although the two were flourishing in their own perspective careers, it wasn't until Fonda went to Tomlin's one-woman show, "Appearing Nitely," in 1978 that the two actually met. "I don't know how many characters she played, but she embodied them all so fully," Fonda told The New York Times Style Magazine in April 2024. "I was smitten ... I went backstage to meet her." As for Tomlin's reaction to Fonda strolling backstage? "[Fonda] swept in backstage with a big cape on. We couldn't believe it," Tomlin told the magazine, adding that for years she'd been wearing her hair in the same style as Fonda had worn hers in "Klute," but didn't have it that way the night they met — something she wished wasn't the case. "We've been friends ever since," Tomlin told The Washington Post in 2017 of that initial meeting. "We're friends because I just love her. I know Jane has my back whenever she can."

At the time Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin met, Fonda was trying to develop what would be 1980's "9 to 5," and she realized she didn't want to do the movie if Tomlin wasn't in it. Although it took about a year to get Tomlin and Dolly Parton on board, when "9 to 5" was released, it wasn't just about the importance of having friends in the workplace who always have your back. It became a feminist classic, tackling the fight for gender equality and respect in an environment that's been notoriously sexist.

In 2015, Fonda and Tomlin teamed up for "Grace and Frankie," a Netflix series that would last seven seasons. During an interview with the Los Angeles Times in May 2022, Fonda shared how working together positively affects their friendship. "It just deepens on its own ... I mean, you get to know each other pretty darn well because, you know, in a movie, it's a relatively short period of time," said Fonda. "But over seven years, if you're not really a good person, it shows. And guess what? She's a good person."

When "Grace and Frankie" ended in April 2022, Fonda and Tomlin's working relationship continued with "Moving On" and "80 for Brady," in 2022 and 2023, respectively. "When ['Moving On'] came out, I was interested in the reviews — almost every one of them talked about our chemistry," Fonda told the NYT Style Magazine in April 2024. "It was like, 'Well, maybe we should always work together.'"

As much as Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin love acting and working together in various projects, they also share a passion for something more important: activism. While having a friend who doesn't share your political beliefs may not have been much of a big deal 10 years ago, things have changed. According to a 2025 study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, less than 10% of Americans have friendships with those across the aisle from them, so it makes sense that a lifelong friendship like that of Fonda and Tomlin would also be steeped in shared beliefs and ethics.

In 2017, Fonda and Tomlin attended the Women's March in LA together, then later that year the friends celebrated Fonda's 79^th birthday protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. "I thought that we would have a woman president [by my 80th birthday] ... that I could maybe take up gardening," Fonda told Vanity Fair in December 2017. "I didn't think that I'd be back on the barricades, no." 

In December 2019, Tomlin attended one of Fonda's "Fire Drill Fridays" protests in Washington, D.C. to discuss how climate change affects forests. When it came time for the police to make arrests, Tomlin volunteered because Fonda had already been arrested five times. While there are already plenty of mental health implications of not having a best friend, facing arrest could be one more. After all, Fonda might have been looking at a sixth arrest if her bestie Tomlin hadn't been there to save the day.

When you've have been friends with someone for a whopping five decades, they know your secrets, they know how to be there for you, and they sure as heck know how to make you laugh — especially when you need it most. When Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin appeared on "Today" in January 2018 and were asked by Hoda Kotb how long they'd known each other, Tomlin said without missing a beat, "I think before your first facelift." As much as it was a fun dig, considering Jane Fonda is one of the celebrities who's been open about their plastic surgery experience, Tomlin's joke landed perfectly.

During their 2015 TED Talk, Fonda and Tomlin were on fire with zingers they were throwing at each other, but they were also honest about the importance of female friendships. "I exist because I have my women friends," said Fonda. "They make me stronger, they make me smarter, they make me braver, they tap me on the shoulder when I might be in need of course-correcting." 

Although Tomlin is definitely the one more likely to deliver a one-liner at the expense of Fonda, she also knows how to get to the heart of the matter. When she honored Fonda at the LGBT Center's Vanguard Awards in 2015, she said, "I have been inspired and awed by your courage and wisdom. You make your dreams come true by being a doer, not just a dreamer. You have hope for the future, and you have big plans for it. Thank you for including me." In other words, who's cutting onions in here?